Businessmen also came under pressure. Miguel Schiariti, the president of Argentina’s meat industry chamber, recalled getting into heated arguments with Mr. Moreno, who wanted meat prices to stay low.

Mr. Moreno didn’t respond to requests for comment. He told a local television program recently that Indec’s data was accurate, and he accused economists of self-interest in reporting higher inflation figures.

Indec workers who refused to doctor data were demoted to dingy offices without equipment, according to the public employee union, an account backed by Mr. Garrido’s findings. Others say they received threatening phone calls and were hassled in the building’s hallways, union leaders said.